The present invention relates to animal butchering and, more specifically to squirrel skinning and cleaning. The present invention is an apparatus for holding a squirrel while it is being skinned.
Devices for this purpose in the prior art generally involve impaling the squirrel to hold it for skinning or cleaning, which is potentially hazardous. Examples are U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,137,030 to Varner and 4,094,041 to Steed. Other devices use two or more parts for gripping the animal such as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,568,243 to Hines; 3,570,049 to Muckelrath; 3,945,083 to Heightshoe; 4,506,411 to Ivy; and 4,543,688 to Barchus. These devices are relatively large and bulky and are not easily transported with the hunter and multi-part devices are expensive to manufacture. Other devices, such as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,625,363 to Watson and 7,163,452 to Taylor, hold the squirrel by the chest, legs, or neck.
It is well known that when a squirrel is manually skinned without the aid of a device, one must first start by pulling the hair away from a spot just above where the tail joins the body and make a cut that leaves a strip of skin uncut at the top edge of the tail. The tail must remain firmly attached to the body and is used as leverage to complete the skinning of the squirrel. Generally, the foot is placed on the tail and held against the ground throughout the skinning process. The present invention holds the squirrel firmly in place by the tail, the grip traditionally used in manually skinning a squirrel, instead of by the chest, legs, or head used in the prior art inventions. The strip of cut skin of the squirrel is pulled in an upward motion, thereby removing the skin from the body. One advantage of the present invention is that it eliminates the need to step on the tail and bend over to complete the skinning process. Further, the present invention is easily manufactured, portable, and can be mounted on a variety of objects.